Do Not Go Gentle
by Hippopants
Summary: [Dangerous Minds]. The last few hours of Emilio Ramirez.
1. 01

_A/N: I do not own any of these characters – they belong to the creators of 'Dangerous Minds'. This fic is dedicated to the memory of Wade Dominguez, who played Emilio Ramirez and was awesome in the film. R.I.P. Wade._

Do Not Go Gentle…

01

"_You asked me once how I was going to save you from your life. This is it, this moment."_

Louanne's words rang in his head as Emilio Ramirez crossed the street and headed into the school. Why he was taking his teacher's advice was beyond him, but something…something was right about it. Did he want to die? Hell no, and following the advice of his teacher held better alternatives than dying. He walked through the halls, aware that his fellow students were watching him, wondering why on earth he was at school early, but for once he ignored their stares as he had something much more important to do.

* * *

It is not unusual, when one is desperate, to find oneself doing something that would never usually be an option. Such was the case with Emilio, and he stopped for a moment when he reached the principal's office, wondering if he was making the right decision. Sometimes, one's pride will stop one from doing the right thing, but luckily, Emilio didn't fall into this category today. He entered the principal's office, a place that was not unknown territory. 

"Mr Grandey…" he began, but was interrupted by the principal.

"Go away Mr Ramirez," he said softly, not even glancing up from the paperwork on his desk. Emilio's jaw dropped in disbelief.

"Excuse me?" he said, and this time Mr Grandey did look up.

"At this school, Mr Ramirez, people knock before entering my office. It is called common courtesy, something that will be useful for you to learn if you wish to succeed in the outside world. So, with that in mind, please leave my office and don't return until you have learned some common courtesy," Mr Grandey finished, in a slightly patronising tone. Emilio stood, unsure of what to do. On one hand, he could flip this guy the finger, leave and follow his original plan, or on the other hand, he could stick around and take Louanne's advice.

"But Mr Grandey…" he began again, but the principal held up his hand.

"Not until you learn some courtesy," he replied quietly as he got up and moved towards the door. "Goodbye Mr Ramirez," the principal said, and shut the door to his office in Emilio's face. Emilio stared at the door, his expression bemused and angry at the same time, before he turned and stalked out of the office.


	2. 02

02

It can't be said that Emilio didn't try to get himself out of his horrible situation. He had taken Louanne's advice and gone to the principal, so it wasn't Emilio's fault that the principal didn't listen, and it wasn't his fault that he had ended up following his original plan. As he slowly walked the streets looking for Shorty, two things crossed Emilio's mind: the first was Angela, and how upset she'd be with him when she found out where he was. The second was, perhaps strangely, Louanne. He wondered if she too would be disappointed in him for coming out here, but he knew that when he got the chance, he'd tell her that he'd tried to make Mr Grandey listen. As he rounded the corner, Emilio saw Shorty and his fellow moronic crack-heads standing around, as if waiting for Emilio to show up. Emilio smirked and reached into his jacket, fingers resting on the cool, metal handle of his gun, ready to shoot which ever one of these fuckers moved first.

"Hey, man, we didn't think you was gonna show," called Shorty, spreading his arms wide and moving towards Emilio, a shark-like grin on his face.

"Well I did," replied Emilio, as he advanced on Shorty. The two men came face-to-face, and Emilio registered the maniacal look in Shorty's eyes, telling him that Shorty was high.

"You ready to go, man?" asked Shorty, slowly pulling a gun out from his jacket and waving it in Emilio's face.

"You know it," came Emilio's answer as he too removed his gun.

"Then let's get this over with," said Shorty. He pulled back the hammer on his gun and took a couple of steps back from Emilio, trying to get the other man into a sort of Mexican stand-off. But Emilio wasn't going to waste time playing Shorty's stupid games. Whilst Shorty was taking his steps back, Emilio pulled the hammer back on his own gun and aimed it at Shorty. A single shot cracked like a whip through the air, and then there was silence.


	3. 03

03

Emilio's eyes widened in shock and pain as the bullet hit him in his chest. He looked around and saw Shorty staring in mute horror at him, saw one of Shorty's crack-head friends staring at the smoking end of the gun he was holding, and saw them all turn and scatter. Emilio felt a throbbing pain in his chest and looking down, he saw his life's blood oozing from the gun-shot wound. He dropped his own gun and slapped his hands on his chest, vaguely remembering being told that applying pressure to a wound stops it from bleeding. But he was weak, and the blood pumped through his fingers as he sank to the ground. He heard someone shout, heard the pounding of feet on the asphalt and saw someone lean over him, though who it was he couldn't tell. His vision blurred, his breathing slowed, and Emilio began to feel cold. He thought he heard someone telling him to stay awake, and he thought that was strange when he was so obviously not asleep. But now that they mentioned it, sleep didn't sound like a bad idea at all to Emilio. He closed his eyes, but quickly opened them again when someone started roughly shaking him. He raised his hand to push the people away from him, but found that no one moved. In the distance, Emilio became vaguely aware of the sound of sirens, but they were replaced with the sounds of people talking all around him. He couldn't make out their words, instead just hearing noise, and he closed his eyes, trying to block it out. The thought of Angela once again crossed his mind, and he could picture her face when she found out about the shit he'd got himself into again. But she would forgive him; she always did, and that was the last thought to ever cross the mind of Emilio Ramirez.

"_Do not go gentle into that good night,  
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;  
Rage, rage against the dying of the light._

_Though wise men at their end know dark is right,  
Because their words had forked no lightning they  
Do not go gentle into that good night."_ – Dylan Thomas

The End.

* * *

_A/N: I hope you liked this. It just popped into my head when I was watching 'Dangerous Minds', and there aren't many, in fact there aren't any, fanfictions about 'Dangerous Minds'. Emilio is my favourite character from the film – don't ask me why because I don't know!_


End file.
